Nick Cunningham

The Palestine/Norway/US film bagged the Best Feature Documentary and Best Director Awards December 5 during the International Documentary Association Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. The Best Cinematography gong went to Ruslan Fedotov for Queendom, while Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat picked up two prizes; for Best Editing and Best Writing. All awards…

Brazilian Petra Costa’s film investigates the increasingly powerful grip that evangelical Christian leaders hold over politics in her home country. “In our story, we look at what happens in Brazil as a fable of our times,” says Costa, who was nominated for an Academy Award® in 2020 for The Edge of Democracy. The film was an Official Selection at the Venice, Telluride, New York Film, Camden International, IDFA, Chicago International, and Montclair Festivals.

The Netherlands-based Movies That Matter human rights film festival invites participants to apply for its five-day workshop and networking programme on how to organise a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project, taking place from 22–26 March 2025. For this edition, the festival will seek to unite new and experienced film festival professionals from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Submission deadline: January 5.

Producer/director Maria Colomer has been appointed new Head of Programming and Co-Artistic Director of DocsBarcelona. Colomer will work alongside Èric Motjer, the current Head of Industry, to co-lead the creative and strategic vision of the festival. Colomer succeeds Anna Petrus, who held the position of Programming Director and Artistic Director at DocsBarcelona since 2023, bringing “bold, diverse, and committed programming choices,” the festival writes.

The second annual Floodlight Summit will bring together top international investigative journalists who will present selected investigations to leading entertainment creators for potential screen adaptations. The invite-only event takes place on Dec. 6-8 in Cartagena, Colombia, with participants attending from more than 25 countries across five continents.

Submitted for both Best Documentary and Best International Feature Film categories of the upcoming Academy Awards, the Swedish feature doc The Last Journey comprises an emotional, at times hilarious, roller-coaster ride as Filip Hammar takes his aging, despondent father back to the coastal town in the south of France where very year the family spent their summer holidays. Hammar and co-director Fredrik Wikingsson talk to BDE about Sweden’s highest-grossing documentary ever.

The Geneva-based human rights festival unveiled this week the 12 projects selected from around the world for its Impact Lab 2025. Each project representative will receive expert training to craft an impact strategy ahead of presentation to dozens of NGOs, international organisations and philanthropists, both in Geneva and beyond. The next edition of FIFDH Impact Days runs March 9 to 12 2025.

Eight documentaries are selected for Feature and Mid-length Competition while 10 docs will play in the festival’s Eyes on the City Short Film Competition. The feature doc 5 anni e un’estate by Mauro Santini will world premiere. An international premiere is Le Boxeur chancelant by Lo Thivolle, while New Berlin by Alexey Fedorchenko will receive its European premiere. The festival runs December 1-8 in Avelino, Italy.

The Balkan Documentary Center 20-project, 3-module programme “addresses the urgent need for independent media and diverse voices in regions where freedom of expression can be restricted, and media professionals often encounter challenges such as censorship, threats, and limited resources.” The deadline for application submissions is January 5, 2025.

After the first lockdown hit India in 2020, 22-year old Mahesh, a penniless plumber, embarked on a 1700-kilometre cycle ride back home across the country, completing the odyssey in seven days, in the process becoming a local hero. In his multi-layered doc, director Suhel Banerjee describes Mahesh’s epic journey. “There is, in that sense, the story of Odysseus coming back home,” the director tells BDE. “And there is a little bit of The Motorcycle Diaries as well.”